Friday Finance – Crack and Weep

Hello hello hello and welcome to Friday Finance here on the Constructed Criticism network. This week we will be cracking two boxes of product and seeing what we got. A box of Iconic Masters and a box of my favourite, Conspiracy: Take the Crown. Lets get going.

Crack It Baby

Box 1: Iconic Masters

Bouncelands

9

$2.00

Ob Nixilis

1

$3.00

Mindcrank

2

$2.00

Distortion Strike

2

$1.00

Lightning Helix

1

$2.50

Mishra’s Bauble

2

$11.00

Thran Dynamo

1

$3.50

Swords to Plowshares

1

$1.50

Sanguine Bond

1

$0.75

Avacyn

1

$15.00

Aether Vial

1

$32.00

Bloodghast

$9.00

Flusterstorm

$30.00

Kokusho

$8.00

Lotus Cobra

$4.50

River of Tears

$2.00

Serra Ascendant

$8.50

Doom Blade

Foil

$1.00

Gruul Turf

Foil

$1.00

Bladewing the Risen

Foil

$3.00

Duress

Foil

$1.00

Wrench Mind

Foil

$1.50

Bad Rares

9

$4.50

Bulk Rares

6

$0.60

Bulk

$3

Foils

$3.80

$155.65

This box cost $180. Yeah, I bought it before Black Friday and the price drop. This set is garbage to open. A lot of the cards held value due to lack of availability it seems and the price drops have been rough. I still advocate that the bulk for this set is pure fire in the long run, but I won’t be opening another box of this. To be fair, we missed hard of the foils, our uncommons put in some serious work, which makes up for the expected weak mythics and a lack of luck on the rares. Can Conspiracy be better?

Box 2: Conspiracy: Take the Crown

Beast Within

2

$2.60

Serum Visions

2

$4.60

Ghostly Prison

2

$4.80

BoP

$6.30

Burgeoning

$4.20

Desertion

$1.30

IoK

$4.10

Phyrexian Arena

$5.30

Recuriter of the Guard

$10.00

Selvala’s Stampede

$1.70

Stunt Double

$1.20

Show and Tell

$14.00

Selvala Heart of the Wilds

$13.00

Daretti, Ingenious Iconoclast

$11.00

Flame Slash

y

$1.60

Burning Wish

y

$5.70

Foils

6

$1.20

Bulk

$5.00

Bulk Rare

16

$1.60

Bad Rares

9

$4.50

$103.70

This box was purchased for $80. This gives us a profit of $23 and we didn’t even open the big boy of set, Leovold. This is why I love this set. It’s so hard to lose money. So many card are worth the cost of a booster, and enough are worth some serious money.

This is probably one of the worst boxes of this set I’ve seen and it’s a profit. Madness I tell you. Now compare that to the previous box. Which wasn’t good, but wasn’t the worst and it wasn’t even close to breaking even. This is why the MTG Finance community warns away box cracking. It’s so hard to make money.

Have any of you had better luck with Iconic Masters? Let me know if you have, I would love to hear your stories.

Promising Pickups

This week we highlight 3 cards that have left standard in recent memory that can only go up from here.

Eldrazi Displacer (Foil)

A staple in modern in making. The card oozes power and combo potential. With a direct reference to Eldrazi, it is difficult to reprint, especially in foil. Get them now whilst they are low.

Current: $10

Likely: $15

Rating: A-

Nissa, Vastwood Seer

With the recent change in Planeswalker rules and the reprint in FTV, this card is heading towards a new increase demand in EDH as well as a increase in availability. The price is likely to hold, but people will hold off pulling the trigger hoping it goes down. Get in now and sell when it rises and the resolve of those players cracks and they all buy likely causing a spike.

Current: $6.50

Likely: $10+

Rating: B

Liliana, Heretical Healer

This one is a bit more risky, but has a higher ceiling than Nissa. It follows the same premise, but could potentially not go boom as quickly. Could potentially be a long term spec.

Current: $9.50

Likely: $15

Rating: C+

That’s it for today folks. Do reach out with any feedback on the picks I make, or tell me a story of your MTG finance career. I love to interact with the readers, so just hit me up. All my contact information can be found at the bottom. Peace.

Until next week,

Alex

If you have any recommendations or feedback of any kind, please feel free to contact me at:

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Email: akkirby95@hotmail.com